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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights ServiceNow, The Progressive, Analog Devices, The Southern Company and Welltower

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 12, 2024 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW - Free Report) , The Progressive Corporation (PGR - Free Report) , Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI - Free Report) , The Southern Company (SO - Free Report) and Welltower Inc. (WELL - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Research Reports for ServiceNow, Progressive and Analog Devices

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 12 major stocks, including ServiceNow, Inc., The Progressive Corporation and Analog Devices, Inc. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

You can see all of today's research reports here >>>

Shares of ServiceNow have outperformed the Zacks Computers - IT Services industry over the past year (+62.4% vs. +46%). The company has been benefiting from the rising adoption of its workflows by enterprises undergoing digital transformation. ServiceNow had 1897 total customers with more than $1 million in annual contract value at the end of the fourth quarter.

ServiceNow has been benefiting from the rising adoption of its workflows by enterprises undergoing digital transformation. Security and risk had a terrific quarter with 12 of the top 20 deals, out of which nine deals were more than $1 million. Customer, Employee and Creator workflows each had double-digit deals over $1 million.

It is benefiting from strong demand for its generative AI-powered solutions with the launch of Vancouver. Nevertheless, ServiceNow is suffering from high inflation, stiff competition, and challenging macro-economic environment.

(You can read the full research report on ServiceNow here >>>)

Progressive shares have outperformed the Zacks Insurance - Property and Casualty industry over the past year (+38.4% vs. +30.1%). The company continues to gain on higher premiums, given its compelling product portfolio, leadership position and strength in both Vehicle and Property businesses.

Focus on becoming a one-stop insurance destination, catering to customers opting for a combination of home and auto insurance, augurs well for the company's growth. Policies in force and retention ratio should remain healthy. Competitive pricing to retain current customers and address customer needs with new offerings should continue to drive policy life expectancy.

However, exposure to catastrophe losses induces underwriting volatility. Escalating expenses due to higher losses and settlement expenses remain an overhang on the margin. High debt level along with low times earned interest pose financial risk.

(You can read the full research report on Progressive here >>>)

Shares of Analog Devices have gained +0.4% over the year-to-date period against the Zacks Semiconductor - Analog and Mixed industry's gain of +3.3%. The company is benefiting from strong momentum across the automotive end market. Strength across the electric vehicle space on the back of Analog Devices' robust Battery Management System solutions remains a tailwind.

The solid momentum of the HEV platform across the cabin electronics ecosystem is a positive. Additionally, increasing power design wins is another positive. However, softness in the consumer end market is a headwind. A weak demand environment is a major concern.

The sluggish communications market, due to the broad-based inventory corrections, is a major negative. Broad-based weakness in the industrial end-market remains a headwind. The ongoing inventory correction is expected to be a headwind for the company in the near term.

(You can read the full research report on Analog Devices here >>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include The Southern Company and Welltower Inc..

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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